Shaman Trounce

Jacob Van LunenWednesday, January 05, 2011

elcome to 2011's first installation of Building on a Budget. It's no secret that Rage Forger is one of my favorite cards to have been printed in the last few years. Rage Forger is a card that hits for a lot of damage out of nowhere. It provides extraordinarily aggressive starts that are nigh impossible to outrace.

Rage Forger has been all but forgotten since the summer of 2008. I've been stewing over it, though. Talking about Rage Forger to anyone that might lend a spare ear.

"It just kills people."

Rage Forger recently lost its position as "the best" Shaman. That title is now firmly in the possession of Fauna Shaman. Survival on a stick has been a bit out of budget for this column until recently. It's worth noting that Fauna Shaman combos quite nicely with Rage Forger. Ultimately, the goal of this deck is to find as many Rage Forgers as possible.

Bosk Banneret lets you drop your hand onto the table. This is precisely what you want to be doing with a deck like this. Bosk Banneret can fight with some of the best cards in Extended. Faerie decks have a lot of trouble trading with a 1/3, especially once it gets some Rage Forger counters.

Sensation Gorger is an interesting card. There was a lot of buzz around this card when it first got printed. People envisioned themselves refilling a hand of burn spells while their control opponent was forced to grab a random combination of lands and spells. That isn't how it worked out, though. Sensation Gorger requires players to pack a lot of creatures into their decks. It's impossible to play enough creatures to make the Sensation Gorger worthwhile and still have a burn plan. What about situations where creatures are burn spells, though? A Rage Forger deck makes this card look a lot more appealing.

Goblin Ruinblaster happens to be a Shaman. I'm a huge fan of this card in the current Extended metagame. If you're lucky enough to be on the play, then this card can be truly backbreaking against control decks. It's pretty good on the draw too, especially if you have a Bosk Banneret to hasten the arrival of your Avalanche Riders.

Bloodbraid Elf is the most powerful card in the format. I've played four copies of this card in every Extended deck I've tested for the last two weeks. Playing less of this card is flat-out wrong.

Wolf-Skull Shaman is a nice threat that often multiplies via kinship. Getting a few wolves is surprisingly relevant. I'd be lying if I didn't say it was filler, but this is some pretty swanky filler to get stuck with.

Cunning Sparkmage has a lot of value as long as Faeries is the deck to beat. I'll be sure to include additional copies of this card in the sideboard as a way to help combat Faeries. I'd also like a few copies of Basilisk Collar to make the Sparkmages more relevant against Mythic and other decks that have Baneslayer Angel.

The Elder creates some fun situations. Sometimes you reveal a Flamekin Harbinger, search for a Rage Forger, cast the Rage Forger, and bash for a lot. I've had some games where I've had a Rage Forger in hand, revealed a Rage Forger, and had the pleasure of attacking my poor opponent for untold amounts of damage.

The sideboard for a deck like this is fairly straightforward. Pingers are Shamans and they happen to be very strong against Faerie decks. Basilisk Collar makes a deck like Mythic a lot more of a winnable match-up. Guttural Response replaces Bloodbraid Elf against Wargate and Vivid Control. Kitchen Finks helps fight Jund and Red decks. None of these sideboard tools interfere with the decks aggression.

I drew another Mountain, played it, cast both Rage Forgers, and attacked. I dealt 6 to my opponent off Rage Forger triggers, and another 6 to my opponent from combat damage after my Ruinblaster was chump blocked. My opponent conceded.

I cast a Goblin Ruinblaster with kicker, destroying a Creeping Tar Pit. My opponent untapped, took a point, and made a token, and passed the turn. I shot the token and his face on his end step. I drew a Forest, played it, and cast Cunning Sparkmage. My opponent went for a Mana Leak, but I had the mana to pay for it. I attacked with my Wolves and passed the turn. My opponent made a Faerie and drew for the turn before conceding.

Recap: The Faerie match-up is obviously quite good for a deck like this. If you're worried about fighting a lot of Faerie decks and you happen to have an extra copy of Great Sable Stag, then I would strongly suggest adding it to the sideboard in place of the Vithian Stinger.

I drew Rage Forger, played my land, cast Rage Forger, and attacked with my team. My opponent took 7 and went to 12, then, after untapping, played a Stirring Wildwood, cast another Wall of Omens, and passed the turn. I drew a Forest, cast another Rage Forger, attacked with my team. I dealt 8 to my opponent before the combat damage, and finished it up with some real damage. My opponent died before even getting another untap step.

Recap: The Wargate match-up is winnable, but these games do involve a great deal of luck on my part. The win in the second game was very luck dependent. I think this deck is capable of outracing Wargate on the play, but winning games on the draw is very difficult despite what the test games might tell us.

I would add Raging Ravines, Fire-Lit Thickets, and Mutavaults if I were looking to improve the list. This deck is a lot of fun. It's very aggressive and easy to obtain the cards. Being the aggro is never a bad idea in a new format. This deck may be the correct choice for a metagame that's set up to handle Wargate, Vivid Control, and White-Blue Nolark. People keep slowing down and skimping on ways to deal with hyper-aggressive strategies. Beating mono-red is easy enough with bullet cards like Kor Firewalker and Burrenton Forge-Tender. This deck displays the same levels of aggression that mono-red decks do while not being as vulnerable to the sideboard hate.